Timm Steuber once worked as a senior physician in the intensive care unit, where he often accompanied people to their deaths. He now works as a management consultant. Steuber/Getty Images
As an intensive care physician, Timm Steuber used to talk to many people in their last hours of life and knows what was really important to them in the end. “Believe me, the last thing anyone would say at a time like this is, ‘I wish I had earned more.'” Here are his top three pieces of advice and exercises for anyone aspiring to a life of leadership.
Timm Steuber was a senior physician in charge of an intensive care unit. After a memorable moment in the palliative care ward, he resigned from the position – and thereby also gave up his top salary.
He now works as an independent management consultant and coaches managers.
He always asks his customers one question: “Would you still do your current job if you had five, eight or twelve million euros in your account?” Here are his three most important pieces of advice for anyone who aspires to a life as a manager.
“One hand and morphine” was the last wish of a dying patient whom Timm Steuber looked after as a doctor in his intensive care unit. The ventilator display was already black that evening and the patient no longer had any relatives. “I asked how she was doing,” recalls the now 43-year-old. The patient is said to have said to him: “I had a long life and am grateful for all the miracles I was able to experience.” And then she whispered to him: “I wish you a great life. This is entirely in your hands! Some people don’t see miracles anywhere. And others see them everywhere.”
Through conversations like these, the doctor finally realized five years ago that his job no longer fully fulfilled him. He gave up his position as a senior physician, where you earn an average of 140,000 euros gross per year, in order to work independently as a consultant. He also occasionally works as an emergency doctor. A positive side effect: more time for his three little daughters.
He then focused on his long-standing passion for psychology and business management in order to be able to apply his knowledge from medicine with individual coaching for decision-makers and managers in middle management. The doctor and entrepreneur explains that he wants to help them have a successful and, above all, sustainable career in which they are satisfied.
Based on a conversation with Timm Steuber, our author wrote down what he believes is important in a healthy, sustainable career and what you should know and practice if you want to become a satisfied manager.